It has by now become common to order books, CDs, foods or other products by telephone or from the Internet and have them delivered to one's home or place of business. In many cases, these products are delivered and the receivers (users) are not present to take possession of the products. For this case, the only recourse is delivery to neighbors or other persons, with the associated uncertainties or for the deliverer to undertake another delivery attempt. The return shipping of products is often necessary due to complaints or delivery mistakes, in which case the sender must wait for someone to pick up the package or take the routes already mentioned for receipt of products. Overcoming the so-called “last mile,” the above-described path from the deliverer to the recipient of the product or from the sender to the person picking the product up, can thus result in considerable logistical expense and costs resulting therefrom. To enable the delivery of product parcels even in the absence of the recipient, automatic reception apparatuses for products have been developed, representing a kind of interface between deliverer and recipient.
An automatic reception apparatus, which is intended to allow the delivery of products ordered by telephone, via the Internet or by e-mail to a recipient, even if the latter is absent, is already known from International Publication No. WO 00/57759. The most important part of this system is a standardized transport container. It is tub-shaped and can be closed with a lid. The container is preferably manufactured from plastic. Its walls can be thermally insulated, so that frozen products or products that must be kept cool can be accommodated therein. The container is also constructed to be stackable or foldable with the lid removed. Coded information in the form of magnetic strips or bar codes is placed on the outside of the container in a designated position. The crucial special feature of this container is that its outer dimensions and the positions for placing magnetic information on the outside of the container must be fitted exactly to the dimensions of the reception apparatuses that must be furnished in the residential buildings to receive containers, or vice versa.
This known reception apparatus has a cutout, of a size corresponding approximately to the outside dimensions of the container, in the outside wall of the recipient's house. This opening can be closed off by an outside, pivotably suspended flap. The flap can be locked to prevent intrusion of people, animals or unwanted objects into an intermediate space adjoining the flap. In the area of the opening and outside in front of the flap, sensors are arranged, by means of which the coded information present on the container can be read. In the case when the read information, after optional deciphering, agrees with information on an expected delivery of goods, the flap opens and the container must be inserted sufficiently far into the box-like intermediate space that additional coded information placed on the front end of the box can be recognized by a sensor arranged on the back wall of the box-like intermediate space. At this point, and if additional sensors arranged in the intermediate space report, for instance, that the container has standard dimensions as well as the usual weight and the usual temperature properties, the outer flap closes. The back wall of the box-like intermediate space is constructed as an additional inner flap which is not unlocked until the outer flap is closed and locked after a container has been inserted. Now the delivered container can be removed manually or automatically, for instance, by a conveyer belt, and placed on a storage shelf. With an automatic set-up and sufficient space, it is thus even possible to receive several containers in succession.
The International Publication No. WO 00/57759 also describes equipping the reception apparatus, not with an outer flap, a box-like intermediate space and an inner flap, but only with an outer flap that is adjoined by the storage shelf. In this case, however, the sensors that detect, for instance, the weight, dimensions and temperature of the container must be arranged in front of the outer flap. Since only a single flap that constitutes a point of entry into a residential building is thus provided, it must be designed to be particularly break-in-resistant. Alternatively, it is designed to be possible to place the box-like intermediate space outside the residential building, in which case only the rear flap is positioned in the outside wall of the building. Beneath the outer flap, it is also possible for an additional flap to be provided, via which an empty container is returned when a new package is received, because the containers must always be returned to the delivery circuit.
To trigger the sensors that bring about an opening of the outer flap, WO 00/57759 provides for the use of an order code by the computer that controls the reception apparatus at home, following an order for the product via telephone, Internet or e-mail. This order code also occurs in encrypted form in the coded information of the standardized container and, when a previously ordered product is delivered, it is read by the sensors and recognized by the computer. which then brings about the opening of the outer flap. There is thus no necessity that the order code be known to the shipping company. It suffices to pass only details regarding the recipient such as name and address to this company.
The previously described system for automatic reception of ordered product shipments proves disadvantageous, however. First, expensive sensors and locks must be provided to prevent the intrusion of people, animals and other objects into the box-like intermediate space behind the outer flap, and thus into the house in question. To enhance security, outer packages for the products in the form of standardized shipping containers are used, of which the outer dimensions are fitted to the clear width of the opening in the house wall and of the intermediate space behind it; they thus fill up the intermediate space. These extra transport containers represent an additional freight weight that must be carried by the delivery person. Since the entire reception apparatus is keyed to the use of standardized containers, a certain number of such containers must be in circulation for such a system to be introduced, which entails correspondingly high costs. The return of the empty containers also proves very expensive, since they require additional logistical management. The use of this reception apparatus for multi-family houses is problematic, because, behind the flap, it is necessary to provide a storage shelf that permits only the authorized recipient to have access to the delivered product containers.
FR 2 615 895 A, even older than the above, also describes a reception box installed in a house wall, which, with two doors, can be used in the manner of a transfer channel for freight-paid product deliveries. The person delivering the product opens the outer door, like a safe, by means of numerical code stored in a door-opening device; it is selected from a number of possibilities and given to him by the customer (recipient). For confirmation of delivery of the product, the delivery person uses a marking unit arranged in the interior of the box, which provides a receipt for the product placed in the reception with the acquired numerical code. When the outer door is reclosed, the numerical code that was just used is blocked so that the delivery person can no longer open the door to cancel the confirmed product transfer unlawfully, for instance. Thus, this reception box presents a possibility of assuring the transfer of ownership of the delivered product without personal acceptance by the recipient. This method presents the delivery person with a considerable logistical problem simply because different customers could give a delivery person the same code, thereby creating confusion with delivery of the product. This method is not suitable for a larger group of recipients and delivery people and an increasing number of “recipient-free” freight-paid deliveries.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,717 describes a reception station for large buildings, with a plurality of reception boxes serving for product transfer to absent recipients. The delivery person selects a vacant box, which he opens using a delivery person's code. This system is suited only to large buildings with the appropriate infrastructure. Rapid proliferation of the system, especially for the large number of customers in private houses, is not possible.
JP-A-11018916 and especially U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,053 describe a reception box in the outer wall of a building having a communications unit for reporting product reception or product pickup. Code numbers for the various suppliers are stored in a memory of the communications unit; for each supplier, additional codes for various recipients can be provided. A telecommunications network connects the reception box to a computer in the residence of the purchaser/recipient and a supplier's computer. Code numbers for various purchasers/recipients are also stored in the communications unit so that communication via the Internet for making transactions between the purchaser/recipient, the seller/delivery person and the reception box is possible. In this case, the purchaser issues a code for the order. The disadvantage of this system are, among others, that (i) only a selected group of suppliers obtains access to the system; (ii) code number management by the customers causes great expense to the supplier (who, after all, would like to supply as many different customers as possible); and (iii) rapid proliferation of the system, i.e., the possibility of use by a great many participants, is not possible, since only a few houses/buildings offer the possibility of permanent installation for reception boxes connected to a data network.